The Expendables 3

Synopsis

Barney, Christmas and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks, who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill... or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The...

Production Details

Synopsis

Barney, Christmas and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks, who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill... or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables -- but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables' most personal battle yet.

Production Details

Run Time

2 hrs. 7 min.

In Theaters

Friday, August 15, 2014-Nationwide

MPAA Rating

(PG-13), for violence including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes, and for language

The Expendables 3

Even if you haven't seen The Expendables or The Expendables 2, you'll feel pretty confident in what sort of film you've signed on to watch by the end of the very first scene in Stallone and co's latest on-in-years ensemble. Expendables 3 opens with an action sequence that lacks any visual coherence, falls short of its intended adrenaline, and hangs its sense of humor on a single meta joke about one cast member's life outside the franchise. But then, almost instantly, you'll be thrown for a loop. A very weird loop, in fact.

The second scene in the movie - a segue between the first high-intensity set piece and the next - is a long (and I mean long) silent shot of a helicopter landing outside of what, if memory serves, is Sylvester Stallone's character's HQ. It might not sound like a particularly big deal, but it takes form as a jarring, almost laughable dagger to the movie's would-be momentum.

It's the first of many instances of peculiarity so obtrusive it's emotionally rewarding, and often (intentionally or otherwise… I really have no idea in most of these cases) quite funny. Between the running theme of characters staring motionlessly and wordlessly into the camera, a sullen montage documenting the empty lives of the Expendables when they're not expendabling, and the bizarre reoccurrence of the word "s**tstorm," you'll discover a rare, inimitable identity in The Expendables 3: one that amounts to a better time than you might anticipate, and certainly more interesting one.

Of course, there are plenty of missed marks throughout the film. As established from minute one, the action is flagrantly uncoordinated, and a lot of the scripted comedy - the hypermasculine chiding and Arnold Schwarzenegger's callback lines - will provoke hearty groans. But sweeping past the excess of the prerequisite bro jokes and '80s movie quotes, we get to the real fun. We get to the odd, often uncomfortable (and delightfully so) hiccups in pacing. We get to Mel Gibson spouting Biblical passages and tirades against big government. Best of all, we get to Antonio Banderas, prancing around the wide shot like a romantic bandit. Off to the side of the top-heavy bulk, these elements make up the real victory of Expendables 3: the fun is in the weird.

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